Magna Britannia; Being A Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Volume the Sixth, Containing Devonshire. Parts I & II

London: Thomas Cadell, 1822. ~Original tan diced calf boards, framed with triple gilt fillets and blind rolls. Gilt decor to board edges and turn-ins. Rebacked in near-matching cloth, with two original green gilt spine labels laid down. Mild wear to boards and board edges. Folio (23 x 29.4cm). All edges marbled. Hinges sound. Replacement blue-green endpapers, front endpaper just starting at bottom gutter. Crease / fold to front free endpaper. Pencil annotations with information on volume to replacement front blank endpage. 2 parts bound in 1, each with half title and dated title page. 2 ff. with corrections for earlier vols in series to rear. 34 plates, as called for, including 4 folding and a hand-coloured plate of 14th-century stained glass at Beer Ferres Church (the oldest surviving stained glass in Devon). Mild foxing, largely to plates and pages to rear of vol. The sixth and final vol. of 'Magna Britannia', the masterwork of the brothers Daniel and Samuel Lysons (1762-1834 & bap. 1763, d. 1819, respectively). Both were accomplished antiquaries and illustrators (the view of Compton Castle in this vol. is the work of Samuel Lysons), and friends of key figures including Horace Walpole and Hester Piozzi. Samuel was a 'field archaeologist much ahead of his time', while Daniel's antiquarian work 'stands out for his ability to organize and present clearly a mass of material, for the emphasis he laid on primary sources such as parish records, deeds, and censuses, and for his scrupulous citing of sources' (ODNB). Their collaboration on Magna Britannia, curtailed only by Samuel's death, resulted in a work of an 'extremely high' standard: '(A)lthough their emphasis on church and manor was traditional, they included new material on such topics as commerce, population, and manufacture, and were far less preoccupied than many antiquaries with arms and pedigrees, and far less concerned than local topographers to rehearse the glories of the county' (ODNB). Important work of local history, generously illustrated & in attractive original boards. ~Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request. . 1st edn. Hardback. Very Good+. (12), ccclv, (5), 682, (4)pp. Binding sound, text unmarked.